“Symbiosis”
Story by Robert Lewin
Teleplay by Robert Lewin, Richard Manning, and Hans Beimler
Directed by Win Phelps

Season 1, Episode 22
Original air date: April 18, 1988
Star date: Unknown

Mission summary

This week, on a Very Special Episode of ST: TNG…

The Enterprise is investigating some unusual solar flare activity in the Delos system when they receive a distress call from an Ornaran freighter. The freighter turns out to be the galactic equivalent of a Volkswagen minibus and the occupants onboard seem awfully mellow for people whose lives are in danger. The Enterprise‘s bridge crew is dumbfounded by the Ornarans’ lack of initiative to solve their crisis or expertise about the basic ship repairs necessary to save their vessel. The freighter is going to be destroyed as a result of sheer incompetence. The Enterprise beams them over to save their lives, but the Ornarans beam over their cargo first. By the time Yar can lock onto the passengers, only four of the six made it: two died because their cargo got priority. Harsh, dude.

No one seems upset, though: the two surviving Ornarans and the two surviving Brekkians both want to see their cargo right away. The Ornarans claim it’s theirs, because they paid for it, but the Brekkians claim it’s still theirs, since the payment was destroyed with the ship. The two get into a lightning match Pokémon-style, because apparently both races have a natural electric charge. The cargo turns out to be felicium, a medicine for a plague exclusive to Ornaran that affects all inhabitants. Without it, the Ornarans will die. In fact, the two Ornarans who have beamed aboard–T’Jon and Romas–quickly begin suffering from the loss of the drug. Dr. Crusher can’t find any infection, but the symptoms are most certainly real. The Brekkians refuse to relinquish the cargo because Brekka has no other industries and supports itself exclusively with sales of felicium. The Ornarans’ dependence on this medicine means they export anything the Brekkians could ever need in exchange for the felicium. However, with T’Jon and Romas suffering, the Brekkians Sobi and Langor decide to give them each a single dose, to get them as far as Ornara for continued negotiations.

Crusher doesn’t bother testing the dose to find out what’s in it, but she notices the effects right away. T’Jon and Romas aren’t sick, they’re addicted to a narcotic. Their symptoms were those of withdrawal from a potent drug. The felicium acts as an immediate chill pill and the Brekkians have obviously spent their years “purifying” the so-called plague treatment to increase its addictive properties, making the entire Ornaran population dependent on the felicium. Picard and Crusher, in private, confront Sobi and Langor. They figure out that while the felicium did cure the plague many moons ago, the plague has been gone for centuries and now the Brekkians are just drug peddlers. Unfortunately, Picard claims there’s nothing he can do to stop them. The two planets have developed a symbiotic relationship, and to interfere would be a violation of the Prime Directive. Crusher could formulate some space methodone to help the Ornarans with their withdrawal symptoms, but that, too, would be interfering. Then this happens:

WESLEY: Data, I can understand how this could happen to the Ornarans. What I can’t understand is why anyone would voluntarily become dependent on a chemical.
DATA: Voluntary addiction to drugs is a recurrent theme in many cultures.
TASHA: Wesley, no one wants to become dependent. That happens later.
WESLEY: But it does happen. So why do people start?
TASHA: On my home planet, there was so much poverty and violence, that for some the only escape was through drugs.
WESLEY: How can a chemical substance can provide an escape.
TASHA: It doesn’t, but it makes you think it does. You have to understand, drugs can make you feel good. They make you feel on top of the world. You’re happy, sure of yourself, in control.
WESLEY: But it’s artificial.
TASHA: It doesn’t feel artificial until the drug wears off. Then you pay the price. Before you know it, you’re taking the drug not to feel good, but to keep from feeling bad.
WESLEY: And that’s the trap?
TASHA: All you care about is getting your next dosage. Nothing else matters.
WESLEY: I guess I just don’t understand.
TASHA: Wesley, I hope you never do.

Eventually the Enterprise reaches Ornara, and the Brekkians, fearful of the Ornarans’ surviving withdrawal from the drug and no longer requiring the felicium, decide to “gift” the cargo to the Ornarans and work out a payment plan later. Picard sees through this and comes up with the only way he feels he can help: he refuses to repair any of the shuttlecraft that shuttle the cargo back and forth, knowing full well that soon the supply line will break down, and with it, the drug addiction.

This episode brought to you by Nancy Reagan.

Analysis

I had remembered this episode rather fondly. Maybe I had been taking some felicium myself, because this hasn’t aged well at all.

I still give points for a premise that I haven’t seen anywhere else, before or since. Can you imagine the pitch? A planet of drug addicts manipulated into believing their withdrawal symptoms are a kind of plague, whose obsession with the drug has meant seeing all other forms of progress, like science and technology, take second place to the need for the next fix… and the drug addicts are the good guys? Yeah, okay. Watching this today, their “symbiosis” seems eerily prescient given the way incentives in the pharmaceutical industry favor long-term (and expensive) treatment of symptoms over short-term (less profitable) cures of conditions. Alas, that particular allegory is probably coincidental, as the obvious parallel is supposed to be to recreational drugs. Drugs make you dumb! Just say no! You’re being used! Yeah, whatever. Like most intelligent adults I’m allergic to the hard sell, and they’re trying oh so hard.

This has one of the better guest casts: Merritt Butrick and Richard Lineback make convincing druggies, and Judson Scott and Kimberly Farr effectively convey loathsome yuppie-ish dealers. Butrick in particular twitches his way to several stolen scenes, giving Judson Scott a run for his money. Alas, their deliciously melodramatic performances are undermined by one of the worst actual teleplays that’s aired. There are no fewer than three condescending diatribes, the worst of which is the notorious Yar speech. But the Wesley scene everyone remembers really detracts from just how dreadful both Picard’s and Crusher’s moralizing is, too. Dr. Crusher comes across as an emotional loon, and I’m surprised she didn’t go straight to “Won’t somebody think of the children!” As the advocate for the viewer’s point of view, she embarrasses. Then Picard–oh, Picard–has to actually sell us the idea that allowing a planet full of people to suffer BEFORE they find out their lives have been a sham is the truly humane alternative to cutting to the chase right now.

I understand the Prime Directive as a guideline for, you know, preventing the Fourth Reich, but this is ridiculous. These people aren’t just being exploited, they’re obviously suffering dramatically: a condition the Enterprise generally leaps at the opportunity of correcting. There’s just no precedent for this kind of wholesale back-turning on a people in obvious need. Picard’s “resolution” merely highlights the absurdity of the premise. If they can’t interfere when their own people are in danger (“Justice” or “Angel One“) or when other aliens are in danger (here), then what exactly are they supposed to do out there in the great big universe? Take notes in their travelogue and keep their uniforms neat? Surely Roddenberry didn’t intend this crew to have the most cruel hearts in the galaxy. Maybe all of these examples are just there to Teach Us A Lesson. Writers, if you’re going to write oversimplified morality tales, don’t insult our intelligence. Let us learn the lessons ourselves by showing your characters making mistakes and not just setting examples.

Ultimately, I leave the episode thinking of a hundred alternative directions in which this could have been more interesting. What if felicium had side effects? What if it actually was a necessary medicine, and the Brekkians were exploiting that in a slightly more honest, less villainous way? Is there something inherently evil about controlling the supply of a necessary medicine, or is business just business? And hey, seriously, what about the children?

Torie’s Rating: Warp 2 (on a scale of 1-6)

Thread Alert: The ’70s are over! Why do they keep happening to this show?? If anyone looks like they’re going to snort coke off a disco floor, it’s these two.

Best Line: LANGOR: The Ornarans provide us with the necessities of life, and we provide them with the necessities of living. It is a fair exchange.

Trivia/Other Notes: This was Denise Crosby’s last episode before her timely death in next week’s “Skin of Evil.” (Though this aired first, it was shot after.) When Picard and Crusher leave the cargo bay at the end, you can see her waving goodbye in the background.

Merrick Butrick and Judson Scott are both Trek veterans, having appeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan together. Though Scott returned to the franchise in Voyager, Butrick could not: he died the next year of AIDS-related illnesses.

About Torie Atkinson

24 Comments

1.DemetriosX

Posted April 19, 2012 at 9:01 AM

Unlike our stalwart rewatchers, I was already 26 when this aired and thus was cynical enough to have no fond memories of it. Torie’s recap points up some of the possibilities that could have made it good. I even rather like Picard’s “a plague on both your houses” solution. (Although, there’s absolutely no reason for the Brekkans to be so technologically backward. They’ve been sitting in the lap of luxury for ages, they could have put some of that towards education and research. Wait! Maybe this isn’t just about drugs. It’s about oil, too!)

Anyway, Tasha’s horrible speech just undoes any redeeming features this episode had. After a couple of decades of PSAs with screeching capuchins and frying eggs, Just Say No and DARE, not to mention the plague of Very Special Episodes of any show that had more than one regular character under the age of 20, my tolerance for that sort of thing was long gone. And then so ham-fistedly done.Gah!

But it’s better than next week’s episode.

2.Toryx

Posted April 19, 2012 at 9:54 AM

I still give this a higher rating because of my fondness for Merrick Butrick than it really deserves. There are so many episodes before this one that I can just find no redeeming value in that the mere presence Merrick offers makes me appreciate this one more.

The drug message was definitely overhanded but at the time this thing first aired, there was a drug message practically ever week on one show or another. In that case, this one got bonus points from me simply because it involved people who had electrical powers.

I also agree with Torie about the Prime Directive nonsense. If the first season is good for anything, it’s for establishing that the Prime Directive hurts more people than it helps. I can’t quite believe that no one working on the show noticed this and I kind of wonder if that was intentional. But I don’t quite get why they’re trying to say it all the time. Is it secretly an effort to get the public to back away from isolationism or something?

3.Lemnoc

Posted April 19, 2012 at 10:18 AM

So the noninterference directive allows them to freely render assistance to a ship in distress, but not a society in distress. Starfleet can render aid to oppressors (or not, apparently they have the option), but not the oppressed. OOookay.

Look, I can understand the wisdom of the captain’s decisions.

When Picard first gets involved, he doesn’t know he shouldn’t be involved. When Picard discovers that, he declines further involvement.

It’s all understandable.

You welcomed some guy into your home. He’s a terrible drug dealer. You’re under no obligation to continue the welcome.

I just don’t see how or why it needs to be couched as some kind of difficult paradoxical, “oh dear, what now?” problem of the Prime Directive. There’s not really much of a Gordian Knot controversy or complexity here, and Doctor Beverly is just being histrionic again.

Next time I deny a nickel to a hobo, I will deliver a lofty lecture like Picard’s about how centuries of hard lessons made this the only possible decision.

4.Lemnoc

Posted April 19, 2012 at 10:19 AM

Good points, Torie.

The fact that it all gets easily resolved by an existentially broken widget (“diabolus ex machina”) just makes it simplistic. Easy to be virtuous, when the facts align to confirm your virtue.

Had Picard sailed off with the drug dealers still fully in command of the situation, would we viewers still feel it was the “right thing” to do? That the Prime Directive still was omniscient and merciful?

@ 1 DemetriosX
Well, it’s never proven conclusively that Brekka doesn’t also have a recreational drug problem. Maybe half their income is going to an anti-drug campaign!

The thing is, aside from that one awful Yar speech, it’s not really a Very Special Episode. Wesley isn’t tempted into drugs, and I give the episode MASSIVE points for making the addicts sympathetic and likable, instead of the usual sleazy, no-goodniks in all the DARE crap I used to get. You wouldn’t see that today.

@ 2 Toryx
He pulls off a tortured soul look really well.

As for the Prime Directive, I think it was just an attempt to show how perfect and special the Federation is that they always do the Right Thing even when it feels wrong. Because being Right is hard, especially when it conflicts with any existing common sense notions of fairness and morality you may have. Honestly, this show makes me want to take up some vigilante justice.

@ 3 Lemnoc
But Lemnoc, why would anyone voluntarily not have any money? I guess I just don’t understand…

Re: sailing off with the drug dealers, I also like the implication that these incredibly complex space-faring vessels haven’t been adequately serviced for 30 years and they’re only NOW starting to break down. Also, if Picard’s excuse for confronting the Brekkians is that it’s information “they already know,” wouldn’t teaching the Ornarans how to repair their own ships be information they already know? I mean I’m sure they’ve got the manual in a drawer somewhere, they just keep getting distracted by the snacks on the counter…

One other thing I forgot to mention: that opening was awful. The dramatic music cues and then–my favorite–the little CGI eclipse!

6.DeepThought

Posted April 19, 2012 at 11:06 AM

Oh right, the frame narrative!

Personally I’ve always viewed this episode through the lens of the British opium trade in China. This is what happens when a powerful and technologically advanced civilization gets hooked on substances produced by the less powerful one — only it’s got all the usual problems of the Planet of the Hats, viz. EVERYONE is addicted, NOBODY knows drugz r bad, the scale is off, the time scale is off — a thousand years with no technological advances, really? — yeah…

And besides, in the opium trade, the British were initially looking for something they could export to pay for all the tea they were importing. What did Junkie Planet ever have that Pusher Planet wanted to get other than this soooper-advanced technology that Pusher Planet didn’t have? You know what happens in that case? Junkie Planet comes over with some guns and takes your medicine thankyouverymuch. It doesn’t decide to service the every need of technologically backward Pusher Planet.

Aaaanyway… I also like the spot-on depiction of the tobacco industry — refining the product over the years to make it more and more addictive.

7.Lemnoc

Posted April 19, 2012 at 11:43 AM

the Prime Directive hurts more people than it helps. I can’t quite believe that no one working on the show noticed this and I kind of wonder if that was intentional. But I don’t quite get why they’re trying to say it all the time. Is it secretly an effort to get the public to back away from isolationism or something?

Given the era—post-Vietnam, post Domino Theory, post Creeping Horror of Communism—I’d say it’s a straight-faced, straight-up fetish of American isolationism: “See how noble we are for remaining above the petty bickering of inferiors! Refusing to render aid is the highest and best principle!”

The fact that the “moral” of the morality play always works in favor of the fetish is convenient. It would be interesting to see them visit a world where an easily eradicated evil was truly and thoroughly winning and flourishing, and apply those Federated principles of non-involvement. Now THAT would be television!

8.etomlins

Posted April 19, 2012 at 12:52 PM

“Symbiosis”, ugh. One of TNG’s lowest points. The hamfisted “drugs are bad” message is bad enough, but the real problem as noted above is with the doctrinaire, nonsensical invocation of the Prime Directive. Eric Burns at Websnark has treated with this particular episode more astutely than I ever could:

This variable (and capricious) enforcement of a Prime Directive that states that the Federation must not interfere in “natural development of species and cultures” was highlighted extremely well in an episode of Next Generation. In this episode, it turned out that David Marcus from Star Trek II was an alien whose planet had a “disease” and Khan’s aide Joachim from the same movie was from a world whose entire economy was devoted to selling them medicine. Only, of course, we were actually talking about drugs. And their ships were breaking down. So, the Enterprise started rendering aid to fix the ships. Then, of course, the Federation determined that this was all a drug run and there was an entire planet of addicts on their hands. But Joachim laughed in their faces. “Your own Prime Directive says you can’t interfere with our development,” he laughed. “So you can’t tell David Marcus that we’re just pushers and they’re a planet full of bitches. Hah hah hah!”

And Picard agreed with them, but then announced that they couldn’t actually fix the starships. Prime Directive, don’t you know. If they can’t fix them themselves, they can’t fix them at all.

Are you seriously telling me this policy isn’t insane? These are two cultures who know about the Federation. If anything, Picard should never have been able to offer to help fix their ships in the first place, but should have been able to say “you know you’re not sick, right? I mean, you’re addicted to that medicine. That’s all.” Certainly, there’s no possible justification to perpetuating a lie against a culture aware of space and of the Federation to begin with.

Except, of course, the cold justification of social Darwinism. If David Marcus’s alien race is strong enough, they’ll survive the withdrawal symptoms, and figure out they’ve been duped. Of course, if Joachim’s race is strong and smart enough, they’ll figure out how to fix their own starship, and the next thing you know it all starts back up again. That’s life in the cold universe!

Emphasis mine. It would get worse, of course; eventually the Prime Directive would be invoked multiple times as an excuse for not aiding civilizations doomed to complete extinction–as though getting wiped out by a worldwide disaster was somehow part of the natural evolution of a culture. But we haven’t reached the 2nd season yet…

I went into this with an open mind, wanting to see what it was that Torie liked about it so much (ha ha). Which may be why I ended up kind of enjoying a lot of it. Butrick was great, and I was actually entertained by the Ornarans’ blasé attitude toward everything. As Torie pointed out, this is a really interesting and different premise, and it mostly worked for me.

There are all the problems with the Prime Directive that others have already mentioned, and yet, if you accept that Picard’s interpretation of the Prime Directive is correct, then I did admire him standing behind it and then finding a creative way to honor it while also bringing about the change he and Dr. Crusher wants. One way this episode might have been more compelling is if Crusher went ahead and gave them the synthetic cure anyway–because as a doctor, she has a higher directive to “do no harm.” The show is all over the place with the Prime Directive, and always makes a point of highlighting it as this superior morality. When Picard says it’s been proven that interfering is disastrous, my reaction was “Really? Give us some examples. Are all those societies Kirk ‘helped’ really worse off because of him? Or are they just *different*?” Picard’s grand solution will do more than give the Ornarans some discomfort; the Brekkians are going to be completely screwed, with no one to turn to for help. They’re just going to be begging the Federation for aid in another six months. It was also disappointing to see him express so much disgust at the Brekkians, to the point where he says, “Just get us away from them. Anywhere will do.” Though I did like Geordi’s response to why he chooses the system he does: “Curiosity. We’ve never been there before.”

Aside from the little “Just Say No” digression, Yar was surprisingly competent in this episode and this was Crosby’s best performance to date; perhaps she was just happy that it was all over. I can’t believe I forgot to look for her waving at the end! Troi was as irritating and useless as usual.

Anyway, this had some good points, and whether you agree with Picard’s actions or not, I found it to be thought-provoking and engaging–a promising direction for the series, which will deliver better results when stronger writers are on board who won’t waste a good plot. A shaky Warp 3 from me.

10.Lemnoc

Posted April 19, 2012 at 3:57 PM

It would be fun to turn this episode on its head and imagine the Enterprise coming on these two societies at the outset of the plague. One society is suffering tremendously. The other has medicine, but can’t provide it because their ships are broken.

Picard launches into some long lecture about how they’ve learned through hard experience that it would be folly to do anything to stop the suffering. Yar delivers the message that medicine = drugs.

Weasley says he doesn’t understand any of this; and suddenly viewers realize they agree completely with this wise boy.

Roll credits on Mirror Universe.

11.S. Hutson Blount

Posted April 20, 2012 at 12:28 AM

@10 Lemnoc: You forgot a scene, where ISS Enterprise then delivers punitive orbital photon strikes to both planets for wasting their time.

@ 6 DeepThought
As far as invasions, it doesn’t look like the Ornarans have any weapons aside from their natural electrical charge, which the less said about the better.

@ 7 Lemnoc
I hadn’t thought of it as a post-Vietnam reaction, but you’re right, it fits neatly into that narrative. Too bad the Ornarans didn’t have something the Federation wanted to prompt their intervention, eh? Another alternate plot: what if Picard decided not to help them not out of the Prime Directive, but for fear of the narcotic spreading throughout the Federation? It’d be an even better DARE message!

@ 8 etomlins
My problem with this interpretation of the Prime Directive is that it precludes their own first contact. If the Vulcans had been playing by this rule of absolute non-interference with “lesser” species, humans would still be dicking around on Earth.

@ 9 Eugene
Wow, a Warp 3! Are you sure you can sustain that speed?

I think I would have liked Picard’s solution more if he hadn’t approached it with such disgust, as you said. It makes him come off as a condescending jerk, instead of a man caught between his personal morality and his mission instructions. For all you may think of the Pusher Planet, they’re still going to be left destitute once the export of felicium ends, and TOS-style they will have to learn to build their broken society from scratch. Picard doesn’t have any sympathy for that.

13.DeepThought

Posted April 20, 2012 at 10:29 AM

@Torie #12

Yeah — whatever happened to that electrical charge plot thread? That was one of like three different plot threads that was introduced, got two minutes of screen time, and then went totally nowhere. Like the solar flare thing at the beginning.

Regarding the Prime Directive in this context, it *could* be consistent. I thought the PD applied to civilizations up until the point they independently developed warp drive (at which point they’re going to meet lots of aliens anyway). After all, that’s when the Vulcans talked to us (spoilers!) A freighter running between two planets in the same system could be a sub-light vessel. Of course this is stupid, but it at least obeys the PD rules… though it raises the question of why PIcard was willing to intervene at all…

14.Lemnoc

Posted April 20, 2012 at 1:47 PM

I thought the PD applied to civilizations up until the point they independently developed warp drive… Of course this is stupid, but it at least obeys the PD rules… though it raises the question of why PIcard was willing to intervene at all…

Your explanation sounds like something the writers might have thought through at some later date to make sense out of nonsense (“we’ll welcome them to the satars when they’re ready for the stars”). Seems like I recall the Feds also only admitted members with cohesive planetary governments; balkanized govts seemed to be treated as client states.

At this point and beyond, though, there is lots of nonsense. Why was junior Adm. Jameson trucking around with “his interpretation of the PD” in “Too Short A Season”? Why was Wesley tripping around on that planet in “Justice”? What the hell was the Enterprise doing even talking to that idiotic society in “Code of Honor”? in each case, they’re open about who they are, involve themselves seemingly under orders, then experience some catastrophe of noninvolvement.

The nonsense continues….

15.Lemnoc

Posted April 20, 2012 at 2:01 PM

ADD: At least TOS put a fig leaf on some of this by costuming the crew on away missions to primitive societies. TNG deosn’t seem to have figured this out at this point.

16.etomlins

Posted April 20, 2012 at 8:10 PM

I remember the supposed limitation imposed by the Prime Directive about warp capability but for the life of me I can’t remember from where I recall it. It seems to me a late amendment to the rule. It makes sense, though, only for civilizations whose first contact with the inhabited Universe at large comes with the first development of FTL drive. What about first contact in other ways? What if a civilization happens to live right off the highway, so to speak, such that they might readily meet a more technologically advanced civilization just by stepping out the front door? And something like that has happened here.

I just think that if the Prime Directive were really applied, in all cases, according to the hyperbolically strict guidelines that Picard occasionally lays down, the Enterprise shouldn’t even be openly gallivanting around the galaxy in a starship because they might accidentally run into someone whose cultural evolution might be disturbed by the mere sight of a huge alien vessel.

I rather wonder how Capt. Kirk would have handled this situation. I imagine a (rather silly) scenario in which Kirk trumps up some excuse to throw the Ornarans in the brig indefinitely, giving the Brekkians and himself the excuse to confine the Ornarans long enough to achieve their withdrawal from the drug. I also imagine Dr. McCoy’s anger at the situation would be…volcanic.

The way that Dr. Crusher’s objection to the situation is made to seem silly and emotional, a mere counterpoint to Capt. Picard’s ostensible Solomonic wisdom, is distasteful to say the least. And it would happen again in “Pen Pals”; Dr. Pulaski as I recall cuts a better figure, more clipped and forcible, but still her objection to the captain’s inaction exists merely to be refuted by Picard’s unchallenged sagacity and a fallacious slippery-slope argument. And that suggests a question. At any time during TNG was Picard’s reasoning ever allowed to be wrong? Well, there was that highly intriguing 2nd season episode “Time Squared” in which Picard is permitted to refute himself. And I suppose that Picard can be said to have lost the argument with Q in “Q Who”. There may be other examples I’m forgetting. In the main, though, Picard was almost always made out to be right no matter how specious his arguments.

To be fair, Capt. Kirk was never wrong either, but he was James Kirk for crying out loud.

Departing victorious and virtuous, Spock muses aloud about the PD. Kirk delivers Rationalization #4 for ignoring it + a zinger. McCoy and Kirk chuckle together as Spock’s eyebrow lifts.

18.Lemnoc

Posted April 20, 2012 at 10:20 PM

…actually McCoy would whip up placebo, proving the Ornaran addiction was all in their minds…

19.Ludon

Posted April 20, 2012 at 11:11 PM

“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

All the talk about the prime directive in this thread has led me to see that it is at odds with the mission statement of the Enterprise (and the series).

This episode has not held up for me though I still favor Picard’s decision at the end. Giving them the easy cure to the addiction would likely prove ineffective. If you have an easy way of dealing with the problems of the addiction when they get to too great, then what incentive do you have to try to avoid getting re-addicted?

I have to wonder if this story idea started out focusing on something else but got changed in response to a round of politicians calling for Hollywood to stop being part of the problem and be a part of the cure in the War On Drugs. (Politicians have been doing that from time to time since at least the 60s as one of several tactics to try to show that they are worthy of being re-elected.) That Drugs Are Bad scene with Tasha and Wesley was out of place in this story but it was in line with the messages being inserted into other shows at the time.

20.dep1701

Posted April 21, 2012 at 12:43 AM

I dunno… part of me wants to agree with everyone that this wasn’t a good episode, for any and all of the reasons stated, but I still have a certain fondness for it. I know I’m in the minority, but it won’t be the first or last time.

Look, at least this episode was ABOUT something. There was a moral issue, debate and dissension ensued, and there was a downbeat ending. It was a glimmer of a trace of what made TOS so good. Yes it may have been handled heavy-handedly, but it did do what TOS was so often praised for; couching a current day topic in SF trappings.

I’ve said before and will say again that in terms of oversimplification and execution, this episode can be compared quite readily to “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”. Both tackle contemporary issues ( racism / drug abuse ) both convey their message with all the subtlety of a jackhammer ( racism is BAD / drug abuse is BAD ) and both have alien races that can fight each other with personal energy fields. But at least this episode is ahead of turds like “Angel One”, “Justice” and “Code Of Honor ( which was truly about NOTHING ).

I still like the fact that at the end of this episode, no character is truly happy or satisfied by the outcome, and there is no artificially light, warm and fuzzy wrap up moment tacked on to lighten the mood. And when all is said and done, the topic is still relevant today.

21.sps49

Posted April 22, 2012 at 2:57 PM

If suffering (and re-suffering) through pre- Best of Both Worlds TNG has taught me anything, it is that crap writers will use the Prime Directive to mean anything that will create some fake tension in their crap plots.

@ 16 etomlins
I think the warp drive rule is introduced in First Contact.

As for Picard always being right, I’d rather the show side with him than with their idiotic morality tales.

@ 17 Lemnoc
I couldn’t have written it better myself.

@ 19 Ludon
Modifying it to “seek out new life and new civilizations as long as they’re socially and technologically backwards and can, through their nauseatingly simple errors, legitimize our own species’ superiority” was too long and doesn’t scan as nicely.

@ 20 dep1701
I had mentioned last week that I remembered this episode fondly, but it just doesn’t hold up on re-watch. Picard is so flippant about the Ornaran’s needless suffering. Crusher points out how painful a process it will be (and how preventable!) and he basically just says “They’ll get over it. Now let’s blow this popsicle stand. Step on it.”

Your hero, ladies and gentlemen?

@ 21 sps49
But I love a lot of season 3! Season 2 is an improvement, at least. “Measure of a Man”? “Q Who”? At least it has some memorable ideas (“Loud as a Whisper”) even if the episodes aren’t as strong as they will be.

23.bobsandiego

Posted April 24, 2012 at 6:01 PM

Oh this turd sandwich of an episode was something I did not miss while I was playing in Las Vegas. (I did see The Cabin in the Woods a fantastic film, much deeper than you might think from the previews.)
The problem with message stories is that they usually forget to be entertaining because they are too damn busy climbing up on their soapboxes to berate those of us not accepting of the piece of golden wisdom. To tell a story like this you have take the issue and disguise it in metaphor, but that was beyond these people. (Perhaps, and I am being charitable here, because things were being rushed rushed rushed because of the looming writer’s strike.) Also the drug problem is much more complex than what is presented here. The reduction has made any possible message inapplicable to the real world.
As to the Prime Directive — well Trek was never consistent in exact;was, a statement of moral realtivity (something I hear Roddenberry defend in the years between TOS and TMP), an indicatore of advancement enough to contact (such as in first contact), an Athropological prinicple (such as when we see the federationduck blind for scienctist), or or a statement of fate such as when it is applied to natural disasters, it has been ALL these things. Mostly, as it has already been said, it was a crutch used by writers to introduce false drama and restrictions on the characters.
My writing partner and I did submit an episode to Next gen where picard, is faced with a situation where by walking the talk of the PD is forced to let a planet die off, and is rewards with a medal for heroicaly resisting his cultural impulses to get involved. yeah they didn;t buy that one.

24.dep1701

Posted April 25, 2012 at 1:58 PM

“My writing partner and I did submit an episode to Next gen where picard, is faced with a situation where by walking the talk of the PD is forced to let a planet die off, and is rewards with a medal for heroicaly resisting his cultural impulses to get involved. yeah they didn;t buy that one.”

That sounds like it would have been good. All angsty. Picard could have been takng crap from other officers even though the official attitude was “well done”.